DUSHANBE, June 11, 2015, Asia-Plus -- The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) leader Muhiddin Kabiri has made online report on his meetings with European politicians and Tajik migrant laborers working in Europe, according IRP’s head office in Dushanbe.

Kabiri reported to the IRP Political Council on June 10.

IRP leader reportedly stressed that politicians in European countries have full and reliable information about Tajikistan and problems facing the country.

Muhiddin Kabiri noted that he would return to Tajikistan in the near future.

The IRP Political Council also discussed issues related to the authorities’ increasing pressure on the party activists and charged the party leadership with taking adequate measures within legal boundaries, the source said.

We will recall that Muhiddin Kabiri was in Switzerland in late May to attend an international conference on problems of counteraction to extremism in Middle East.  According to IRP deputy leader, Mahmadali Hayit, the second leg of Kabiri’s tour of Europe was Germany, where he was scheduled to hold a meeting at German MFA in Berlin and meet with representatives of Tajik Diaspora in Dortmund.  IRP leader has reportedly also visited Brussels to hold meetings with representatives of the European Union to discuss the Central Asian issues.

Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party officially registered in former Soviet Central Asia.  The IRP was registered on December 4, 1991.  It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999.  Its official newspaper is Najot (Salvation).  According to some source, the IRP now has some 50,000 members.

Parliamentary elections took place in Tajikistan on March 1 and for the first time since Tajikistan gained independence in the 1991 Soviet collapse, the Islamic Revival Party failed to clear the five-percent threshold needed to win parliamentary seats.